E3 2003: Knights of the Old PC Republic

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I took off all of my clothes at E3, tossed on the old Jedi garb, and then chopped the hell out of some Jawas.

By Ivan Sulic

We've already done more Knights of the Old Republic coverage than anyone else in the entire universe has ever dared to do or will ever dare to do. Yup, you pretty much know everything there is to know about this cool game from our extensive previews, interviews, and all that other awesome as all hell coverage we've got. Now, to save precious E3 time and not infuriate you loyal readers with insane redundancy, I'll be focusing on what the PC version offers that the Xbox version does not, which should make this pretty darn quick, since about 90% of the game is the same or not even closed to finished.

First of all, the interface for the PC version hasn't even been implemented yet. It's still straight from Xbox and right now the only way to play is by controlling your character with the keyboard. This is clearly not going to be how it's done in the end. I queried BioWare reps about this very thing and they mentioned that they're still trying to figure out just what they're going to be doing. Point and click will be there and it's supposed to be "very, very intuitive." Obviously, if anyone knows what they're doing when it comes to interfaces and RPG games, it's BioWare. These kids have it down cold. Which, ironically, may be why some PC RPG fanatics could be a little depressed by Knights of the Old Republic... I mean, will it be as deep, fulfilling, and approachable as Baldur's?

On the one hand, we have everything that's going to make the Xbox version so utterly cool, but on the other hand, that's going to be all we're getting. No multiplayer will be added, as BioWare says sternly that this is a singleplayer only game. It always has been and it always will be, apparently. So, while the rest of KOTOR includes deep RPG aspects, it's not quite what people born and raised on Baldur's Gate might be expecting. It's somewhat more straightforward, but offers a hell of a lot in other areas to compensate. For instance, the presentation is through the roof. Voices, all in their native alien dialects, are everywhere, and mini-games, such as the on-rails shooting aboard the Ebon Hawk (a Millennium Flacon inspired ship that acts as a hub between worlds and quests), promises to spice up the normal adventure loving gameplay.

Other than that, it's a somewhat different take on fairly standard RPGing. You can pause mid-fight and delegate commands and actions down to your mates. But, if you like to play in real-time, your AI buddies will compensate and use their own AI to dish out force powers and other actions. Very neat.

And the visuals? Through the roof! All of the graphical acuity of the Xbox version plus some insane resolutions are present and accounted for. Pixel shading, bump mapping, high detail, max particle effects... Oh yeah! Even though it doesn't seem quite as deep and involved as a Baldur's experience, the game should more than make up for it in a about a billion different ways.

Knights of the Old Republic PC should be out this fall, just in time to make us all very, very happy. Clearly, even though the PC version is straight up Xbox only with a different control scheme, this game is going to totally rock. Even BioWare knows that. No final plans for ongoing expansions for the PC version have been made, but they are coming and in some form of development, which leads us to believe that Xbox Live downloadable content may also be on the way.

Long before the Galactic Civil War, an epic drama begins. Engage in this saga set in the Golden Age of the Republic over 4,000 years before the first Star Wars film, when both Jedi and Sith number in the thousands.